Can Obama make a Deal with Iran?



Can Obama make a Deal with Iran?

by Jake MacAulay

Recently the United Nations Security Council endorsed the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. They also adopted a series of measures leading to the end of U.N. sanctions on the country. 

 

Senator Mark Kirk, R-Ill. weighed in, calling the plan to "preempt" Congress' review with a Security Council vote a "breathtaking assault on American sovereignty and Congressional prerogative. " 

 

Obama told reporters he's hopeful Congress "will pay attention to that broad-based consensus" of the U.N.

 

But even if Congress votes down the deal, Obama has vowed to veto their legislation.

 

Many Americans are concerned for a variety of different reasons.  There is the fear that if Congress doesn’t agree to the terms, America will have no inspections, no control over Iran.  Another grave concern is the potential threat to American allies in the Middle East, and even the Islamic threat to America. 

 

All these concerns make for great discussions, headlines, and shouting matches, and no doubt we have experienced all of the above.

 

But isn’t the real question, how did our Framers instruct America’s government to deal with treaties between other nations?

 

Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution states, “He (the President) shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur”.

Finally, Article 6 requires that Treaties must be made under the authority of the United States.

President George Washington warned us in his farewell address, “Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence…the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of the republican government.”

If all the President had to do to bypass Congress and the Constitution is create a treaty with the U.N., then whose country would this be?  It certainly would no longer remain the country of “We the People” where God-given rights are secure.

 

So to answer my title question, “Can Obama make a deal with Iran?” Well, yes, but that is his deal, not the deal of these United States, and it has absolutely no authority over our elected representatives or We the People.